The Seven Chapter 5
by Unkn0wn Writ3r
Summary: Ch 5


From her first years in the world, Lucina had two immutable rules that governed her choices. The first rule was that rising above was worth more than others. The second was that the only person worth looking out for was herself. These rules had been Lucina's personal laws since she could remember, and they had served her well. She had become Roxy Galen's Royal guardian in record time. Lucina made her way to her room and opened the door, and made a beeline for the table on the right. On this table rested three daggers and a bottle of a murky purple mixture. This was a poison Lucina had created by herself. It would never fail to kill its victim, even if the victim had poison immunity, her poison, which she called Deathbringer, would kill. Lucina walked over and prepared the three daggers, dipping them in the bottle of Deathbringer and sliding them into their sheaths. She had someone to kill, and the reward for killing this person would move her higher than ever before. She was going to kill Roxy and join Ignation. She slipped the sheathed daggers into her armor, adjusting her step to make sure nobody noticed the additions. It was the perfect time to kill Roxy. Richard had contacted her, telling her that he would stop Matthias, and promised her to be the third most powerful in all Ignation if she killed Roxy. Matthias was out of the way, and those two smugglers wouldn't do anything. Lucina laid down on her bed, laying her purple cloaked head on the pillow, resting for the hunt tomorrow.

Dame ran through the streets, Celest following her. She had told Celest of the disastrous duel between Matthias and Richard. Tomorrow had come ,so Dame and Celest had made their way to the Royal infirmary, hearts laden with despair. The entered through the doors and took a right, stopping in front of door No. 13. The two opened the door quietly. Celest made a small choking sound as she saw Matthias, his limbless body propped up against his bed, two healers with their eyes closed chanting softly. Matthias's left eye, his only eye now, followed them as they sat in front of him. Even through the patient's gown he was wearing, she could see his sternum, and beneath it, the outer layers of his heart. "How are you doing?" Dame asked, hoping that Matthias would say it was all right. He took a ragged breath, it seemed that his duel had damaged his lungs, for he struggled to breath. He was completely unresponsive. Then Dame realized that he had no ears. She picked up a pencil and some paper and wrote what she had just said. "I" he said, his labored breathing creating a strange cadence in his speech, "can only feel pain. I want to go to my homeland. The royal scientists can fix me." For a brief moment, Matthias's eye flashed with hatred and a desire for vengeance. "I will not ask either of you to do that. Going to Daemia is a death sentence for anybody but me." At this moment, Roxy and Lucina walked in the room, Lucina leaning in the doorway. Roxy grabbed the paper from Dame and wrote, "I will send you to Daemia with one of my guards and these two healers."

"You don't have to do that." Matthias said, trying to turn around, but found this hard to do without limbs.

"I want you to be fixed as much as anybody, and that is why I am doing this, but you have to promise me one thing Matthias."

"What could the Titania want me to promise her?" Matthias said mockingly. Roxy tore the page and wrote furiously, "If I die and you are fixed, I want you to rule the Faedom. You said you were the successor to the Daemian throne right?" Matthias nodded, and asked, "Why do you want me to rule? Surely your adviser must know the people better than I do." Roxy wrote, "This will unite the two countries. I want to repair your country, but if I die before I can do that, then I want you to bring peace." Matthias nodded and said, "I promise." Roxy called out in the hallway and a guard walked in and picked up Matthias as easily as if he was a pillow. "See you when you're repaired." Roxy said as she left the room, Lucina trailing behind her like a purple shadow. Dame and Celest followed Matthias as he was carried to a Faedom Leviathan. The two watched as it lifted in the air and departed for Daemia.

-Meanwhile in Ignation's castle-

Richard paced the floor, Dina laying nonchalantly in a hammock near him. "What's got you worried?" Dina asked, her black eyes framed in a sea of midnight black hair. Richard stopped pacing for a moment and looked at her before saying, "I have this feeling that that Daemian rep, Matthias was his name I think, is still out there somehow."

"That can't be possible. You sentenced him to a fiery oblivion." Dina said.

"I know, but I can't shake this feeling that he's coming for us. Any update from Lucina?" Dina's lips curled in distaste at the mention of the royal guard. "She said it would be done today. She's expecting us at the rendezvous point." Richard nodded, walking towards the exit, strapping on his crossbows and sniper rifle. "Well then, we should get going." Dina swung herself out of the hammock, grabbing her two swords midair as she landed next to Richard's side. "Yeah." The two walked out to Richard's Leviathan and sped toward the northeastern border of Ignation and the Faedom.

-Just above the Daemian shore-

The guard looked out at the large island that was all of Daemia. It was covered with grim, foreboding clouds, the pitter patter of rain sounding like thousands of tiny drums. As they landed on the black shore of Daemia, it was so behind that it didn't even have docks for Leviathans, he picked up the lump of the man and walked out into the perpetual twilight of Daemia. It was infested with swamps, fens, and all kinds of poisonous and carnivorous plants. A truly dangerous place. He wrinkled his nose, there was something wrong, something polluted, in this air, as the limbless lump directed them to a derelict building. Once they had maneuvered inside it, the guard set Matthias down on the table that he had pointed out. The Daemian royal scientist appeared as if he had been called there. "Ah." He said, each word punctuated by a rasping cough. "I know the exact thing to solve this. Let me go get it." Matthias lay there, propped up against the table, as the healers and the guards started to cough, falling to the floor as the Plague of Daemia already infiltrating their bodies. Daemia had made many advances in science, one of those advances backfiring and making Daemia an island forever cursed with a terminal plague. Anyone who set foot on Daemia's shore was doomed to die, everyone except Matthias. The royal prince had chosen him, a common street thief, to be immune to the Plague before it reached terminal levels. The fens and toadstools swarmed the once proud forests of Daemia thrived off of all the diseased corpses of Daemia's citizenry. The scientist returned, a small shiny black gem and a large jar of what looked like mercury in his hands. "This is the core of Daemia." The scientist wrote, pointing at the stone, and setting the jar on the table. He continued writing saying, "Each of the six nations have a core and each will do something different, for example, Ignation's improves every single Ignation citizen's dueling abilities and the Faedom's enhances recovery within the kingdom's borders. Daemia's core will empower a single person, the person chosen to lead Daemia to a future. Since nobody else will live long enough to use this, it falls to you, the chosen successor to Daemia's throne, to take this core and lead Daemia. The scientist touched the core to Matthias's sternum, and the jewel exploded, knocking the scientist back as energy coalesced around Matthias. Matthias felt power surge through him, heard a thousand screaming voices in his head, each scream piercing him like a thorn. Matthias felt the energy penetrate his body, repairing and improving his body. He felt his arms and legs regenerate as if they were only mere scratches. He felt his face cover with skin, saw clearly as a new eye appeared in the previously empty socket, and sound return to him as his ears regenerated. He felt his lungs inflate as the energy restored him. He swung himself off the table, landing gracefully on his new feet. He looked at the jar that had fallen on the ground when Matthias had absorbed the core, its strange liquid spilling all over the floor, wet and shining. He fixed his gaze on the liquid and looked with half surprise as it swirled around him, splitting into six small curved blades, a stark silver in the gloomy twilight. Matthias felt as good as new, no he felt better. He was Matthias, the Last Daemian, and these silver blades floating around him were his innovated thorns, reforged and refined in Richard's unforgiving flame. "Thank you. I can't express my gratitude." Matthias said, his voice smooth and flowing, like a river of molten silver. The scientist looked at him as he made the ultimate Daemian salute of respect, a complex gesture which consisted of making a D shape over one's heart and slitting their own throat at the same speed, and said, "Long may you live, Matthias Thatcher, King of thorns. Matthias repeated the gesture, bowing slightly as he left scientist, guard, and healers behind and walked briskly toward the resting Leviathan, his silver blades trailing behind him. He stopped on the pebbly shore and looked at Daemia, his homeland, now twisted and forever broken. He felt a tingle as the ground beneath him bubbled and boiled, the tough fibers of Daemian trees knitting together to form flexible armor for him, the armor the color of a burnt tree, specks of red dotting it like dying embers. Metal from deep within Daemia flowed around his full body cloth armor, covering his feet and lower legs with a thin, but formidable, sheet of metal. He walked slowly into the Leviathan and walked to the cockpit, grabbing the instruction manual in one hand and grabbing the control stick with the other. He jumped into the air, sporadically speeding up and slowing down. He made in a clumsy, extremely wonky line to the Faedom to fulfill a promise.

-Meanwhile in The Faedom-

Lucina walked behind Roxy and slipped behind the throne as Roxy sat in it, ready to deal with the issues of the day. She slid down to the floor, steeling herself for the task she had to do. She went over her plan to escape one more time to make sure it was airtight and infallible. She waited, patient as a spider, until Roxy got up and walked out into the hallway, making for her house. Lucina walked beside her and silently drew a small knife and stabbed Roxy in the back whispering, "I need to rise even further and I will use you as my springboard." Lucina withdrew the knife and wiped the blood on Roxy's dress as she ran, dipping into her aura supply to blend into the scenery and blink from rooftop to rooftop, making for the northeastern edge of the Faedom and a higher position. Roxy gave a a cry of pain as she stumbled forward, the Deathbringer poison immobilizing her. Her attendants came running and rushed her to the Royal Infirmary, not even noticing a Leviathan land drunkenly next to the Lightchaser. Dame was polishing her ship, Celest had shifted into a giant eagle to help her reach every nook and cranny. The two gave a cry of surprise as Matthias half crashed half parked next to them. Celest hurriedly flew Dame down, both of them recognizing the ship and eager to see if Matthias was fixed. They met him as he stumbled out of the Leviathan, his six silver blades swirling confusedly. Dame took an involuntary step back as she caught sight of Matthias, in his burnt tree plant fiber armor, adorned with steel, the right side of his face black as ink, infinitely darker than any other natural color. "What's up? Sorry for the poor landing, I've never piloted a Leviathan before." Dame waved away his apology and grabbed his hand and opened her mouth to speak as a Faedom royal guard ran up the stairs, shouting at the three, "The Titania has been attacked!" Dame, Celest, and Matthias postponed their reunion to follow the guard as he led them to Roxy's room. The three burst into the room, startling the nurse and drawing Roxy out of her drugged sleep. "Dame. Celest." She had trouble forcing the words out of her throat as the poison slowly and surely took her over. She pointed to a cluster of chests that had been piled in a corner. "Those are the six million crowns I promised you. This terminates our contract." Roxy turned to Matthias, her golden eyes making contact with his brown and black eyes. "Matthias." She reached a trembling hand out to him as the door opened and the Royal adviser entered in a flurry of scrolls and anxiety. "Titania. We don't have a successor yet, but," Roxy silenced him with a wave of her weak hand. "Matthias is my successor. No arguments." The adviser looked at Matthias, wondering if the Titania was thinking clearly. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Roxy said, her breath coming in gasps. She went silent in moments, the light in her golden eyes fading, never to return. Matthias reached over and closed her eyes and turned to the Royal adviser. "Prepare her funeral pyre." Matthias walked out of the room, Dame and Celest at his sides. He opened the doors to a surging tide of people. Wave after wave of questions flooded his ears, until Celest gave a wild roar. "Thanks." Matthias said gratefully. Celest smiled, showing large lion teeth. "Please wait until the funeral is done before asking questions." Matthias said.

-three hours later-

Matthias walked forward, his somber black armor suiting the occasion well. Everyone was there, a sea of black clothes illuminated by a red carpet lined with candles. He picked up Roxy's limp body, his new arms easily supporting her weight. He walked down the lane, as grave as death itself, and laid Roxy on her pyre. The Royal adviser handed him a candle. Matthias gently lit the fire, the candle kindling a great fire. Matthias turned to the spectators and said, "Today we lost someone special. We lost a queen of queens, but we must not lose hope. Our queen would hate to see you downcast. I cannot promise to be the ruler you want, but I make a promise to you that I will bring peace. I will lead you." Matthias walked down the same carpet he had carried Roxy's body down, his blades trailing behind him, silver sentinels to the pain he hid.


End file.
